Giraffe Baby Rattle

I have seen a lot of these soft rattles around lately, and thought I should try and figure out how to make them, since they make a perfect little baby presents, and boy are there a lot of babies due this summer!

I think it turned out kinda cute, although he has a bump in his nose, I guess I didn't sew straight there. Maybe he looks more like a reindeer than a giraffe. But baby won't notice :)

Anyway, this one is for a friend that just had a baby boy, hope the baby will enjoy it!

More Baby Presents and Softie Bunny Tutorial

Here is the rest of the baby presents I made for my friend’s baby girl (the first one was a Black Apple doll).I love how the set turned out, and it is nice and girly!

The overall is a pattern for the ottobre magazine 4/2012. I added the lace around the chest, to make it real girly (her first child is a boy, so this time around she needs lots of lace and ruffles!).

The hat is a free pattern from Zaaberry. This is a great tutorial, and really easy. I lined the hat so there wouldn't be any rough seams on the baby’s head.

The bunny is my own creation and the tutorial appeared on Gritsand Giggles in December for a “Becoming Mommy series”. I am bringing the tutorial “home” in case you missed it…

Black Apple Dolls

A while back I mentioned that I was doing a lot of "present sewing", and today I am ready to reveal the first outcome.

I stumbled across the pattern for these handmade dolls from Black Apple on various blogs, and thought the dolls were so cute. It is a great basic pattern, and I have seen so many fun ideas that have developed from it. 

I think the doll is great for any age, but I think it is especially good as a "first doll", since the entire doll is soft. Yesterday I gave the purple one to my dear friend who just had a baby girl two days ago. I hope it will bring a lot of joy to her little princess. The other two are for a friend that also had a baby girl a while back (I made one for her 2 year old daughter too). I will be giving them next week hopefully.

I basically followed the basic pattern (which you can find here) and added two things:

1. Hair on two of them (just took a bundle of yarn and sandwiched it between the two head pieces.

2. I made a little circle skirt for all the dolls following this tuturial. I used knit fabric for the skirts and made a lettuce edge for the hem using this tutorial.

I really had fun making these dolls, and I think this is my new favorite present for a baby girl. The next babies due are boys, so I will have to come up with other present ideas...:)

Fleece Doll Clothes

I already told you why I have fallen in love with fleece in this post. Now there are things I sew, where I take my time and make them perfect, but other projects just don't seem worth the effort. Doll clothes are one of those things. Kids like to change the doll's clothes, put on many different outfits, but they really don't care if there is a pretty trim on them, or if the edges are finished off nicely. So why put all that work into it? In this case I think quantity is better than quality (and usually I am totally the opposite!).

That's where fleece comes in. Fleece is so easy to sew with, and you don't have to finish any edges, because it does not fray. So you can make a ton of doll clothes in no time! It is also a bit stretchy, so it easily will go over the doll's head (which is often quite large). 

I made two fleece outfits last week for Littleheart's dolls. Since winter is just around the corner, I figured it might be easier to convince Littleheart (who loves to run around naked) to put on all those heavy clothes, if her dolls do it too.

For the pants I used the doll version from this tutorial from fleecefun.com. It is a very simple pants pattern, and takes like 10 minutes. instead of putting in a casing with elastic, I just sewed on wide elastic with a stretch stitch.

For the shirt I just kind of drew out a basic bodice and sleeves. Nothing special. I did not finish off the neck or hem, I just left them raw. 

Now dollies will be nice a warm!

I will be linking up to some of the link parties on this page . 

Cardboard Kitchen

A little while back I realised that Littleheart loved to play with the play kitchen at daycare. Every day when I picked her up from daycare she would be "cooking". The cook would always say: "I cook in the morning and Littleheart cooks in the afternoon".

I started looking around for play kitchens, and realized they are very expensive. And most of them are very chintzy looking. I had saved the big box from Littleheart's highchair thinking I would use it for something, and decided this was my chance.